STUART McCall fears the season will never be completed if games are called off for every positive COVID test.

City’s 2-1 win over Stevenage at Valley Parade only got the go-ahead on Saturday morning after three of the opposition were pulled out after showing symptoms.

But next weekend’s trip to Grimsby is in the balance after their chairman announced it will be postponed because they have closed the training ground for a fortnight after a positive test.

The Mariners’ scheduled game at Cheltenham on Saturday was called off but the EFL will investigate the circumstances before any decision is made about City’s next match.

McCall admitted he was “baffled” by the statement that Grimsby put out.

He said: “Stevenage have had three positive tests and still come up here and played and rightly so.

“I hear Grimsby were talking about shutting the training ground for 14 days for a deep cleanse because they’ve had one with positive symptoms.

“How can they cancel the next three games?

“We had a deep cleanse at ours on Wednesday following the protocol. We went down to Forest Green on a bus with no cooking facilities and everybody facing the front – we’re sticking stringently to it.

“Everyone will probably have a positive test coming up at some point because you’re mixing with your kids who are at school etc.

“But if there’s a chance that every time you get a positive test in your group the game gets cancelled, then we’ll never finish the season.”

Lee Novak, who scored both City goals to clinch a first league win of the season, admitted everyone is in the dark about whether there will be a game coming up or not.

“Nobody knows at the moment if it’s on or not at Grimsby,” he said. “I’ve read that it was off but I don’t know if that is actually right.

“It’s a difficult one but we’ll work towards it and then I’m sure we’ll find out the back end of the week.

“We’ve made a solid start with five points from three games. We probably should have beaten Colchester at home as well but it was a good point considering they were right up there last year.

“We’re a positive group. I think we showed that with our resolve at Forest Green and again on Saturday you could see the belief.

“We were unlucky to be 1-0 down but we said that once we got one back, we’ll get another – and we were probably unlucky not to make it three or four.”

Novak’s double took his goal tally in the opening month to four. The striker admits he should have had more after seeing a close-range header saved by Stevenage keeper Jamie Cumming.

Novak added: “I could have been walking away with three or four.

“I probably should have scored with the header and then their centre back made a great block from another shot.

“But it doesn’t bother me missing chances. I’d rather be there to miss them – if I’m not getting the chances then that’s the time to worry.

“I’m confident I will score goals. I just want to keep scoring but most importantly picking up the points.”